Chicago (United States): 2 weeks in Americans

Today, I am going to talk to you about my incredible stay in America at the end of 2015. Well, it’s a little dated, but since I didn’t have a blog at the time, I didn’t tell it anywhere. My 2 weeks in Chicago were so incredible that I have to talk about it here (in case my memory fails me one day).

It’s never too late, is it?

Why Chicago?

At that time, I was working for a media agency belonging to a large international group, with offices all over the world. Every year there is a contest called “Live my Life” and the winners are sent for 2 weeks to a colleague in another country, and in exchange they receive another colleague at home (at another time). The destinations are chosen by chance.

I won, and luck sent me to Chicago for two weeks. And in exchange, a Mexican colleague came to my home in Paris.

During the two weeks in Chicago, I continued to work for my clients in France (with a huge time difference) while observing the professional life of my American colleagues.

The Business Visa

At that time, I was not yet naturalized so I had only one nationality: Vietnamese, which forced me to make an appointment at the American embassy in Paris and submit my file online. As I applied for a Business visa, the declaration was enough. I didn’t even have to show them the invitation letter I received from HR in the Chicago office. That reassured me a lot because it was not easy to get an American visa when you are Vietnamese. At the same time, I was married, with a permanent contract, and sent to the United States by my employer… All the conditions were met.

The day I saw the American visa stuck on my Vietnamese passport was like the beginning of theAmerican Dream for me. I was going to set foot in the United States for the first time in my life!

The flight Paris – Chicago

Chicago being an air hub, my Paris – Chicago flight was therefore direct with American Airlines. On the plane, my neighbor kept asking for ginger ale. I confess that I didn’t know anything about this drink, so out of curiosity, I also asked for ginger a le and I was served Canada Dry. I liked it too much.

Since then, whenever I see ginger ale on the menu of a restaurant, it makes me think of my trip to the United States.

Immigration

Contrary to what Gad Elmaleh said in his show, my passage in front of the American immigration was much smoother. I was just asked what field I was working in. And why I was here. 2 simple questions, 2 simple and concise answers.

I was among the first to get off the plane and pass immigration. It happened so fast that I even had to wait a long time for my American colleague at the airport – I arrived so early.

Here lives a husky

H., my American colleague picked me up at the airport with her husband. It was the first time we met. I offered them the La Durée macaroons bought at Charles de Gaulle airport and contrary to my fears, they really loved them ! We then went to their house in Oak Park (in the suburbs of Chicago). The apartment was about 62m² (well they told me about xx square feet, I had to check on Google what it was in square meters), so compared to my Parisian apartment at 48m², there was really too much space. I didn’t know where to put myself anymore because I had so many choices.

The time difference being to my advantage, I was immediately willing to visit their city (we were in the suburbs of Chicago). I remember, it was super hot, and the next day it was cold, I caught cold for a week because of the icy wind coming from Lake Michigan.

We went for a walk and it looks like Wisteria Land (from Desperate Housewives). I realized for the first time in my life that this bling bling side, did you see me Americans, it wasn’t only in the movies ! While they could be quiet in their garden – BEHIND the house, no, everything that was most precious was put there IN FRONT of the house: the small terrace that goes well, the huge balcony to have a coffee in front of all the neighbors, the impeccably mowed lawn, the dog, and the huge 4×4 of course: all the wealth is shown to the neighbors. All that was missing was the swimming pool. And the alley behind the houses was only used for… to store the garbage cans.





At one point, I noticed a sign in front of several houses that said something like “here lives a husky” with a dog’s head on it. I asked my friends why they were so proud to have a husky at home. They laughed and told me that it was just the name given to the soccer club of this or that school – and they were proud that their child was part of it, that’s all. Ahhhhh

Me at the mall…

Then we went shopping. I was horny as hell! We heard so much about the United States that I really wanted to see what Americans were buying to eat. So we went to a huge mall (shopping mall) and as I thought, there were milk cans there but huge ! 2-3L per can… But my friends were eating healthy so we just bought vegetables and a little bit of meat (whew). They then dropped me off at the CVS (a drugstore) to buy a SIM card. If I remember correctly, it only cost me $10 for 5GB. I remember being embarrassed there because I didn’t know how to pay with my bank card 😀 I had to swipe it on the side of the payment terminal, but I didn’t know which side to swipe it on and I was trying to enter the code ahahah.

Anyway, I noticed that there was a huge selection of M&Ms and medications at CVS…. as well as Amazon gift cards, iTunes, Google Play etc.

Me who reads too much French magazines

While H.’s husband was cooking for us, I showed H. a list of American products to buy and bring back to France.

This list was established after reading many French magazines, French blogs…

H. was very surprised by my list because it wouldn’t have crossed his mind to offer this to his friends in Europe ahahah. So my list included: Peanut Butter M&Ms, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, red plastic cups that you see in the American series (I know, it’s lame), Carmex lip balm, the mascara from Chais Pas qui… and I told him that I absolutely had to test the kale salad & cronuts in Chicago. She said, “what’s a cronut?”

OMG, if Americans don’t know what it is, why did the French magazines tell us that it was hyper trendy over there ? I don’t understand.

But Americans are always positive and excited about anything. So H. looked on Yelp, phoned the only cronut store in Chicago and booked us 3 cronuts (cronut = croissant + donut, an American invention), which we quickly tested….

… before doing“mehh” unanimously (mehh is the equivalent of “nothing special” in English). So much for that!

A real American brunch & church

The next day, we went for a real American brunch. With scrambled eggs and everything. In a typical American restaurant, with the menu going well etc. Needless to say, every time I was super excited to do stuff “like in the movies”. I was ecstatic!



Then we went to church.

Well, I don’t know what branch of the church it was. But it wasn’t the Catholic Church.
It looks like a village meeting. The priest was there to recall the important events that would take place in the coming weeks.

Then we had a song/prayer book in front of our seat. He told us which song from which page we were going to sing and even I managed to follow and sing thanks to these scores.

Then people were divided into small groups. H. and her husband explained to me that there were groups of men/women/children. And every Sunday, one person volunteered to give a lesson/discuss a life lesson with their group. H. had to take care of the children and explain the faith to them in very simple words. When I saw H. with the children and how good she was with them, I felt a deep admiration. What an exceptional woman! To see passionate people doing what they love passionately, it touches me deeply.

Sightseeing

We then went to the center of Chicago by subway.

The moment we arrived in Chicago, I felt like I was in a scene from Divergent or a science fiction movie. The subway passed between the skyscrapers, like in a dream, it was really a moving moment.

We then went to visit Lake Michigan (which we couldn’t see the other end of) and the most emblematic monuments of the city. I put some pictures but this isn’t the part that impressed me the most, I came to live like an American, not to visit: D











The “petal” shaped building is just for parking

Cinema

We then went to the cinema to see the movie The New Intern with De Niro and Anna Hathaway. The movie was frankly not very funny but the American audience was really enthusiastic, they laughed at all the jokes, and super loud. When it came out, I asked if my friends thought the movie was that funny, and they said no, why not?… and that if the movie was really that funny, they would have laughed a lot louder.

By the way, to see how good an audience Americans could be, go see a comedy special on Netflix, Gad Elmaleh’s English-language show for example, and you’ll find that people laugh much louder and more often than in France.

The offices

I discovered the American offices on Monday morning… in a state of maximum excitement. Americans have a very concise word for taking the commute to work every day, it’s “commute”. So it took H. and I 30 minutes to “commute”. In front of the subway, there was a sign in front of the subway forbidding the carrying of weapons. Reassuring!

We were almost late and had to run to catch up with the subway. H. was very surprised to see how fast I was running 😀 in spite of my “I don’t do sports” physique. I told him that any Parisian was able to run like me for the metro or the bus.



She showed me the underground passages that you could use in case of very cold weather and indeed you could go from one big building to another in the business district of Chicago. She then showed me Mc Donalds, which she said served good breakfasts, but crappy burgers. Since I’m not a breakfast person, I never had the opportunity to try the breakfast at Mc Donalds. But I hung around in the basement a lot to buy lunch (H. brought his own bento).

As in “The Devil Wears Prada”, we see a crowd walking down the street, a Starbucks in hand. Security guards in front of the entrance of the building, where everyone “beeps” with his pass, before taking the elevator to the floor 20, 30 …

I was a little shocked by the American offices. It wasn’t quite a French open space but cubicles, i.e. everyone had their own little defined space but it wasn’t a private office either. Only the managers had separate offices. In English there is an expression: “the corner office”. When someone has a corner office, it implies that not only does he have his own office but also an office with windows on both walls => he’s a top manager and well paid 😀

So, everyone was free to decorate their cubicle (go to Pinterest to see, the decoration of the cubicle is as important as the decoration of the house), and there were even cubicle decoration contests. Personally, I found that sad! And since all the cubicles were occupied, I went in nomadic/homeless mode in the offices and preferred to occupy the tables made available to everyone… sitting in an egg, or a normal table… with a view please.



We had something to drink all day. There was a drink dispenser (Coke, 7up…) in the kitchen, and enough to serve a good hot chocolate, or coffee… all day long. All that for free of course. There were also bandages available in the kitchen, headache pills + a dishwasher where people put their dirty glasses. We couldn’t cook there, but there was a microwave. Most people just heated their dish (prepared at home) and ate in front of their screen.

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen (working) and frankly, I didn’t see many people come by. I expected them to use Coke all day but no. I was expecting them to use Coke all day but no.

The job

Schedules are different than in France. Americans work early, eat quickly (barely 30 minutes, often in front of their computer), and come home early. This gives a schedule between 8am and 5pm. I’ve even seen people leaving at 4:30 pm. I found that the Americans were very conscientious in their work, that they were concentrated… they didn’t spend any time smoking (young Americans DO NOT SMOKE anymore, what a joy for my lungs), everyone wanted to do their job well to earn money, and pay their bills. No one complained. I was pleasantly surprised to see that.

Here, staying late at work = inefficient, it’s even frowned upon.

However, Taylorism is even more deeply rooted here than in France. The American market is so huge that one person can’t take care of everything, so I found that they shared the tasks a bit too much. In France, in my profession, you could be a senior with 3 years of experience, whereas here, it would perhaps take them 6 years, because they had less responsibility.

I had several 1:1 (face to face) meetings with my American colleagues to discuss processes and expertise and it was a great comfort to me because I told myself that I had nothing to envy them, and that if I ever wanted to work in the United States, my expertise would allow me to find a well paid job very quickly (provided I got a green card, but that’s another story).

After 2 weeks in the American offices, I became imbued with this very positive energy that the Americans were emanating. Everything is “great”, “amazing” and it did me a lot of good. At one point, I had to present myself in front of about 30 people. Usually, I’m not comfortable in front of that many people, but in front of this incredible energy, in such a positive and enthusiastic environment, I made a speech full of confidence, in total improvisation (and in English of course), I even made a few jokes. H. was also very impressed and she told me that I really gave a top manager image that kicks ass. The kind to have the “corner office” what 😀

This anecdote made me think a lot, even now. I understood that I needed a healthier, more positive environment… and that the image of introvert that I was giving in France, well, it wasn’t really me, it was in spite of myself. And I think that was one of the reasons that pushed me to carry out our project of touring the world, and then of digital nomads to create the environment that suits me best and bring out the best in me.

Dismissal, financial management & consumerism

During those two weeks, I also learned that they were in the process of firing someone. But contrary to the hyper-violent image that we all had of layoffs in the United States, the person did not leave with a cardboard in his hand, crying. She received a warning 1 month in advance, and because of the lack of improvement, HR thanked her, but gave her a week’s notice. She could leave with a cardboard box, or let HR send it home (because it’s heavy anyway). I was told that here, jobs were only 2 weeks away, so layoffs were not really a “big deal”.

The jobs, at least for the white collars, all included a health insurance, so theoretically, if the basic American thought a minimum, put a little money aside, didn’t go into debt up to his neck to buy THE most expensive car… a layoff shouldn’t be the end of the world.

But I was very surprised to see rents in the 2000$/month range, and the purchase of an apartment for only 200,000$. Strange ratio! To rent an apartment, it’s very simple, just show your bank statement. We aren’t in Paris, that’s for sure!

H. told me that she regularly receives credit cards in her name in her mailbox, but she hasn’t asked for anything and hasn’t opened any accounts. She could spend up to $500 with each card, then she would receive a bill + credit interest etc. at the end of the month. So a lot of people use this kind of cards without thinking and go into debt in the United States.

Speaking of mailboxes, I noticed a lot of Amazon packages hanging around the lobby of the building. H. told me that the parcels were too big to fit in the boxes so they were there on the floor and people had to look for their own among the delivered parcels. And that there was no theft.
I also noticed this consumerist side of the Americans: H. saw me with an Air France night mask and the next day she bought an equivalent mask and had it delivered via Amazon Prime. People observe each other a lot and tend to buy the same things I find. By the way, at the mall, an American approached me and asked me what “yes” meant (I have the ring marked “yes” on it). I was amused to see that Americans not only talk to strangers without any difficulty, but also pay a lot of attention to material details (probably to buy the same thing).

Gastronomy

So you should know that Americans love to leave comments.

And especially on Yelp.

To find a good restaurant, everyone takes out their smartphone and looks at the rankings on the Yelp application. The two best restaurants in Chicago are The Purple Pig and Au Cheval.

What’s annoying with these two restaurants (and all the good restaurants in Chicago) is that they don’t take reservations over the phone. You have to go on site, leave your name and sometimes wait for hours outside. But Chicago at night is very nice so it didn’t bother us too much.





At The Purple Pig, I tasted theirmarrowbone. I will see later that this dish is always offered in steak houses.
And at Au Cheval, I tasted the best burger in Chicago.

So, it must be said that contrary to the prejudices we have about Americans, they know how to eat WELL.

The price, on the other hand, is a bit deceptive (misleading). There is no menu, so main course + dessert + tip between 15% and 18% => more expensive than in France. At first, I jumped for joy when I saw the dishes at $12, and then when I added the tips, my stock of dollars didn’t stop decreasing.

I tasted the kale salad (a kind of bitter cabbage), the trendy thing, as well as quinoa… reserved for those who want to eat healthy and who store at Whole foods (organic store) and wear expensive Lululemon yoga outfits. I really didn’t like it 🙁



I also tested the cornbread, which I didn’t like either:( Actually, I only like the meat here, especially the burgers.
Ah yes, I tasted the American oysters and loved it! The weird thing is that they are served raw with some kind of vodka cocktail. I didn’t like that so much.

The label

There’s another thing to watch out for regarding tips. When you’re in a group, what Americans often do is calculate tips on the total bill (usually 18% of the total amount) and then divide by the number of people in the group. At first I didn’t know, so I was going to pay for my dish + 18% of the value of my dish. Error! I had to pay for my dish + tips per head. Here you go, so be careful with that, especially if you eat less than the others, you might look like a cheapskate.

In the United States, it’s very bad form not to leave a tip. The rule is: 15% = okay. 18% = good. 20% = very good. On every bill, there is a line where you mark the tip you want to give. The waitress then disappears with our payment card and debits the money marked on the bill (+ tip). And we don’t necessarily have a receipt so we really have to trust the waitress => hence the importance of going to restaurants rated well on Yelp.

There was one thing I didn’t pay attention to but which made me feel like the rudest person on earth, it was my way of sneezing. I didn’t know it, but we couldn’t sneeze into our hands (even with a handkerchief), but we had to do it IN THE Elbow. That way we don’t get our hands dirty.

Boat on the river

I was taken for a walk on the river that runs through the center of Chicago, which flows into the lake. I found the stroll very nice, especially as the boat passes between the skyscrapers, it’s super nice!

Basketball game

Of course, a stay in the United States would be incomplete without a basketball game, between the Chicago Bulls and ??

My friends bought me tickets online, I think it costs about $60.



As expected, the cheerleaders were there … super nice and friendly.



How I loved this game! Well, there wasn’t much at stake, but we ate a real (American) hot dog…



…and we had a great time. There was music during the game (in instrumental hip hop mode, thriller style percussion), which gave rhythm to the game. We had the famous screens with a heart where people had to kiss each other… there were of course the cheerleaders (who gave their all, it was incredible!). I could stay there for hours and hours. It was top-notch!

Uber

After the game, I went back to Uber.

Since we were in the suburbs of Chicago, each Chicago – suburban trip took time and each Uber trip was an experience in itself.
As I was saying, the Americans were chit chatting easily, and the Uber drivers were all in “I’m here to talk” mode and they all had a very interesting story to tell.

For example, we came across a driver (with a slightly Italian accent) who claimed to be the nephew of a mafia man so famous that a film was made about him. I didn’t remember the name of the movie, sorry. Then we came across another driver who told us how he was able to sell his goods transportation business for $2 million to another guy. And finally, the last driver told us about his improvisation club and his dream of doing stand-up. They all had the craziest dreams and didn’t hesitate to talk about them. I found it super inspiring, it’s by talking to them that I really realize this American Dream, it was present in each of them, plus they really believed in it, it was incredible!

Conclusion

It was one of the most beautiful trips of my life. It allowed me to confirm or remove many of the prejudices I had about the United States. Living with an American family for two weeks and working in a positive and enthusiastic environment was such a rewarding experience. It boosted my self-confidence. After Chicago, I went to New York to join JB in New York for a week, but between sightseeing and living with Americans, it was not the same.

Every time I think about it, I relive those positive emotions and I am truly grateful. H. and her husband were perfect, they showed me their real life, life at the office, we talked a lot, we confided in each other… it allowed me to see how they really lived.

I think that Americans certainly have excesses (by the way, during a daily commute, someone came to tell us that the subway was going to stop for a while because a passenger had died of anoverdose in the car next door), but their enthusiasm, their extroverted side… i like them a lot and I feel really good in an environment like that.

Honestly, if you have the possibility to send your children to study abroad for only one semester, to do an au-pair, or yourself, if you can do an exchange in the United States through your school, GO FOR IT!

This feeling of freedom, of no limits, where one says to oneself “I can do it, everything is possible, it’s up to me”, I haven’t felt it anywhere else but in the United States.